The battle has already begun for Chandler Harnish.

Despite being listed as the backup quarterback on the preseason depth chart, the redshirt junior is looking forward to getting on the field and winning back the starting signal caller spot.

Harnish suffered a right knee injury against Toledo last season and feels ready to compete with DeMarcus Grady, A.J. Hill and Jordan Lynch in what appears to be a close competition.

At first, it appeared that the six-foot-two-inch, 219 pound junior would need surgery but his knee responded well to rehab.

“I can honestly say that I feel 100 percent ready to play,” Harnish said despite missing part of spring practice.

Injuries can often be a major set back for an athlete.

Routines in practice and how a player conducts themselves overall on the field are often altered to prevent re-aggravating a past injury.

For Harnish, he hasn’t had to make any changes in his football lifestyle.

“That was one thing I stressed,” Harnish said. “I wanted to keep everything the same. I wanted to treat my body the same and push myself to the limit.”

Even his doctor encouraged him to test himself physically.

“My doctor told me, ‘push yourself to the limit and see where you are at and if you don’t respond the way you think you will then talk from there. And if you do respond well, then we’ll push the surgery off,'” Harnish said.

The hyper-competitive quarterback likened his clean recovery to a miracle.

“I can’t explain it,” Harnish said. “I feel a lot better and we’ve gone from there.”

Grady, who stepped in last season and showed a dual-threat effectiveness during a four-game winning streak, plans on keeping his focus on his own performance and not worry about the other quarterbacks.

“I have to go out and do what I know what I’m good at in making plays,” Grady said. “I can’t get distracted by this whole competition.”

Even with Grady getting the early calls during the summer practices, the battle will be open and at the end of the day. Harnish knows all he can do is perform well and go from there.

“We’re going to compete and we know the best player will play on Saturdays and that it will be coach Kill’s decision,” Harnish said.